Technology for synthesis of peptides has been developed from classical methods applied for synthesis carried out in a solution [a survey of this technology is found in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der Organischen Chemie, Synthese von Peptiden, E. Wunsch ed., Thieme, Berlin (1974)] through the synthesis technique developed by Merrifield applying a solid carrier in the form of particles [see, e.g., Stewart, J. M., and Young, J. D., Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis, Freeman, San Francisco (1985)]. This technique has been found suitable for automation. See, e.g., Merrifield, R. B., Stewart, J. M., and Jernberg, N., Apparatus for the Automated Synthesis of Peptides, U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,258; Brunfeldt, K., Roepstorff, P., and Halstrom, J.; Reactions System, U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,077; Kubodera, J., Hara, T.; and Makabe, H., Apparatus for Synthesis of Peptides or the Like Organic Compounds, U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,390; Won Kil Park and Regoli, D., System for the Solid Phase Synthesis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,190; Bridgham, J., et al., Automated Peptide Synthesis Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,490. Such techniques are suitable for parallel synthesis of many peptides. See, e.g., Verbander, H. S., Fuller, W. D., and Goodman M., Rapid, Large Scale, Automatable High Pressure Peptide Synthesis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,798; Neimark, J., and Brand, J. P., Semi-Automatic, Solid-Phase Peptide Multi-Synthesizer and Process for the Production of Synthetic Peptides by the Use of Multi-Synthesizer and Process for the Production of Synthetic Peptides by the Use of Multi-Synthesizer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,002; Houghten, R. A., Means for Sequential Solid-Phase Organic Synthesis and Methods Using the Same, European Patent Application Publication No. 196,174 published Jan. 10, 1986; Geysen, H. M., Meloen, R. H., and Barteling, S. J., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol. 81, Page 3998 (1984); Frank, R., and Doring, R., "Simultaneous Multiple Peptide Synthesis under Continuous Flow Conditions on Cellulose Paper Discs as Segmental Solid Supports," Tetrahedron, Vol. 44, No. 19, page 6031 (1988); Eichler, J., Beyermann, M., and Bienert, M., "Application of Cellulose Paper as Support Material in Simultaneous Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis", Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun., Vol. 54, page 1746 (1989); Krchnak, V., Vagner, J., and Mach, O., "Multiple Continuous Flow Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis," Int. J. Peptide Protein Res. , Vol. 33, page 209 (1989). The application of planar continuous carriers made it possible to carry out the so-called continuous synthesis of peptides. See Lebl M., Gut, V., Eichler, J., Krchnak, V. Vagner, J., and Stepanek, J., Method of a Continuous Peptide Synthesis on a Solid Carrier, Czechoslovak Patent Application No. PV 1280-89, to which European Patent Application Publication No. 385,433 published Sep. 5, 1990, corresponds.
The present development of molecular biology requires the preparation of many peptides and their anchoring onto various carriers which enable their application in many immunological tests. Hitherto described methods for the multiple synthesis of peptides are not suitable for automation (Houghten R. A., Means for Sequential Solid Phase Organic Synthesis and Methods Using the Same, European Patent Application Publication No. 196,174, supra), or they give only a limited quantity of yield, the quality of which cannot be verified in an analytical way (Geysen H. M., Meloen R. H. and Barteling S. J., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 3998, 1984). Devices applying a carrier in the form of particles exhibit the drawback residing in the necessity to split off the peptide and its new anchoring for later applications. Another drawback of hitherto methods resides in a high consumption of solvents during the synthesis.